NHL takes stand against Stanley Cup keg stands

The NHL prefers that the Stanley Cup not be used for keg stands in the future, after Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals made extensive use of the manoeuvre while celebrating their title this offseason.

"We ask them politely not to do it," Philip Pritchard, who maintains the Cup, told the Washington Post in a story published Tuesday. "We're trying to preserve the history of the Stanley Cup. We don't want any unnecessary damage to it or a person, in case they drop the person or he presses too hard or something."

Oh my god Alex Ovechkin was doing keg stands out of the Stanley Cup in the middle of Georgetown after throwing out the first pitch at a Nationals game and then ended up swimming half-naked in a fountain and I never thought i’d say this but this was all worth the 44-year wait 😂 <a href="https://t.co/WZ5Bfh2aEM">pic.twitter.com/WZ5Bfh2aEM</a>

During a keg stand, the participant typically does a handstand while putting his or her bodyweight on the keg — in this case, the Cup — while drinking as much as he or she can. Ovechkin was seen on social media doing several as the Capitals celebrated in early June, and he and goaltender Braden Holtby helped Jimmy Fallon perform the feat on TV.

Pritchard told the Post a firm decision will be made about outlawing keg stands on the Cup later this month or early next month.

"We'll see what happens as we move forward with the Cup," he said. "At the end of September, the Cup is going in to get engraved and updated and cleaned and everything, so we'll see how it is because we have to take it apart then and everything. We'll know probably more then, in early October, once it's back for the home opener.